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The integration of art and language arts in the intermediate grades: two case studies

University of British Columbia

This study is comprised of two case studies that examine two intermediate—grade teachers’ beliefs about knowledge and the place of art and language arts in their beliefs about knowledge, the teacher’s role and the students’ role in knowledge acquisition, and the relationship of these beliefs to the integration of art and language in their classrooms. To this end, data was collected from interviews, curriculum documents, and observations in the classrooms of the two teachers over one integrated unit of work of approximately eight weeks duration. The findings of this study suggest that the way in which these teachers defined art and language arts within their beliefs about knowledge had a great effect on what and how they integrated art and language arts. Particularly influential were the ways in which each of these teachers perceived linguistic and visual thinking in their own learning. These beliefs of knowledge were also integrated with their beliefs about their role as a teacher and the students roles as learners. Important to the definition of roles was whether or not knowledge was perceived as internal or external to the learners. Roles defined around external knowledge excluded the students’ personal and idiosyncratic ways of knowing, thus disallowing much potential for integrated arts and language arts activities. Roles defined around an idiosyncratic perception of knowledge allowed for child—centered integrations to take place, thus redistributing the power over knowledge toward a more equitable state.

Thesis/Dissertation

application/pdf

2009-03-04

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/5478

Curriculum Studies

University of British Columbia

UBCV

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